Resilient seat or back



April 25, 1944. sTQRY 2,347,617

RESILIENT SEAT 0R BACK Filed Dec. 9, 1940 Patented Apr. 25, 1944 RESILIENT SEAT OR BACK Anthonie Story, Amsterdam, Netherlands; vested in the Alien Property Custodian Application December 9, 1940, Serial No. 369,346 In the Netherlands November 28, 1939 4 Claims.

The invention relates to a method of making spring seats and the like of the kind in which the resiliency of the seat is obtained by means of spiral springs provided in the said seat and also to furniture seats made according to the said method.

For upholstering a seat body a great many operations have been hitherto needed all of which operations are to be carried out by hand. These operations are the following ones: In the first place a number of bands of material perpendicular to each other are attached to the seat body; these are the so-called supporting straps. The spiral springs are then sewed fast to the said straps, after which the spiral springs are connected by means of rope in order to fix the same with regard to each other. For a further fixation of the outer springs a steel or bamboo frame is attached to the outer springs along the outer side of the said outer springs. After this a layer of canvas is stretched over the fixed springs, which layer is nailed to the body of the seat. On this canvas there is provided a stuffing consisting of crin vgtal mixed with horsehair or other materials according to the quality of the seat to be made. A layer of stufling cloth is stretched over this stufilng and held in place by cross-lines of stitching, after which some additional stufiing material is provided at the edges, in order to prevent the seat from growing too convex. After the p outer edges have been closed by sewing, the edges where the additional stufling material was introduced are often stitched through several times. On the surface which has grown a little concave on account of the additional stuffing at the edges, there is still applied a top stufiing in order to render the surface of the seat level. The upholstering material such as e. g. moquette or wool velvet is then stretched over the said final stuffing, which like the preceding coverings is nailed to the side edges of the seat frame.

The present invention has for its purpose to simplify these laborious operations and to provide a method for making a furniture seat or back in which the number of operations is greatly reduced, while providing besides a great saving of time, also a great saving of material.

According to the invention use is made of a flexible metal plate to which the springs of the seat are attached with one end. This has the great advantage that the operation of fixing the springs with regard to each other will no longer be needed, while moreover the flexible surface will keep the springs completely in their places, whereby a double layer of stufling and the use of two layers of material provided between the springs and the cover will be superfluous. In this manner the number of operations is greatly reduced. According to the invention the operations now will be the following ones: The straps are attached to the body of the seat, while the springs are secured to the loose metal plate. The metal plate with the springs is laid over the supporting straps and the springs are attached with their ends to the said straps. The metal plate is now screwed to the back of the seat body. After this a complete layer of stufiing is deposited on the metal plate. This layer of stufiing may consist e. g. of crin vgtal, horsehair, cotton, felt or the like. Finally the covering material is stretched over the stufiing layer and nailed to the seat body. The operation is simplified in such a way that not only a saving is obtained in the material, but also in the wages to be paid. A furniture seat according to the method of the invention consequently comprises a seat body the bottime of which is provided with supporting straps, spiralor other springs attached to the said straps at one end and to a metal plate at the other end, the said metal plate being screwed to the seat body at the back of the piece of furniture, a layer of stuffing deposited on the metal plate and the covering material which is stretched over the stuifing and attached to the body of the seat.

Furniture seats according to the invention are suitable for chairs as well as for benches, sofas and the like.

In order to render the metal plate not only flexible as a whole but also in portions, the plate according to the invention may be slotted, the slots running in longitudinal direction of the seat.

A very simple manner of attaching the springs to the metal plate is obtained according to the invention by punching small tongues in the metal plate, which tongues are turned over the outer Winding of the springs. In this manner the springs will be rigidly attached to the metal plate.

In order to prevent any troublesome squeaking or creaking of the seat, according to the invention strips of a suitable sound damping material may be applied between the springs and the metal plate.

It is often desirable to render the front edge of the seat higher than the rear edge, in order to prevent a downward inclination of the seat when some one sits down on the front edge or the front portion of the seat. This might be done by stretching the covering material less taut at the front side, which would release the tension of the front springs, whereby the front edge would be urged upwardly. According to the invention, however, it will be advantageous to use springs that are longer at the front edge of the seat than those at the back and to keep the covering material tauter.

Sometimes it is advisable to render the surface of the seat convex. This may be accomplished by using a curved metal plate instead of a flat one. Since, however, metal plates that are curved in the right manner are considerably more expensive than fiat plates, it is to be preferred according to the invention to have the springs at the front of the seat longer than those at the back and then to provide springs in the centre of the seat that are longer than those at the front.

In this manner the surface after the covering has been stretched over the same, will become more or less convex, while at the same time the front edge will be higher than the rear edge.

The method according to the invention is illustrated in the drawing in which the different stages of the production process are represente and in which .Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bottom of a seat body with the straps attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a metal plate provided with slots and with the springs secured on the same, while strips of linen are provided as a sound damping material.

Fig. 3 is a section of a seat bod and the metal plate with springs arranged on the same.

Fig. 4 is a section through a finished seat.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the construction showing an assembly of the metal plate, frame and spring.

In Fig. 1 the seat body is denoted by 0:, on which the straps b are secured by means of nails 0.

In Fig. 2 11 represents a metal plate with a recess e and slots f. Springs g are secured on the same by folding tongues it over the outer winding of the said springs. This manner of securing the springs which is only indicated for one spring is the same for all of them. Sound damping strips i are provided between the springs and the metal plate. The plate in the next working step is screwed to the seat body by means of screws k which are passed through screw holes 7.

During this same operation the spiral springs g are sewed fast to the straps b (Fig. 3). Fig. 4 represents the finished seat. On the metal plate (2 there is provided a solid layer of stuffing material Z consisting e. g. of crin vgtal, horsehair, cotton or felt. Over this stuffing there is provided the final covering layer 121. which does not get into touch with the metal as the stufiing is larger than the said metal plate, so that it is pressed over the edges of the plate.

It goes without saying that the straps and the used for attaching the springs to the bottom of the seat body.

I claim:

1. A resilient seat or back comprising a frame, spiral springs located within said frame, a one piece flexible plate shaped metal cover located over said spira1 springs, the boundaries of said cover being substantially coextensive with the outer boundaries of said frame, and means securing said metal cover to said frame at one of the side thereof only, the spiral spring being vertically arranged and supported by and within the frame, the cover resting upon the top coils of the vertically arranged springs with the free edge of the cover supported upon the springs so that the cover flexes with the springs in supporting and distributing a weight applied thereto.

2. A resilient seat or back comprising a frame, spiral springs located within said frame, a flexible plate shaped metal cover located over said spiral springs and means securing said metal cover to said frame at one of the sides thereof only, the edge of the cover which is secured to said frame being provided with a central cutaway portion and a series of slots which extend toward the opposite unsecured edge of the plate from said cutaway portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to said secured edge whereby the portion of the plate between the slots is maintained out of contact with the side of the frame to which the plate is secured, the spiral springs being vertically arranged and supported by and within the frame, the cover resting upon the top coils of the vertically arranged springs with the free edge of the cover supported upon the springs so that the cover flexes with the springs in supporting and distributing a weight applied thereto.

3. A resilient seat or back comprising a frame, spiral springs located within said frame, a flexible plate shaped metal cover located over said spiral springs and means securing said metal cover to said frame at one of the sides thereof only, said cover comprising strips arranged in parallel relation and means connecting said strips located at the side of said cover opposite to that at which said cover is secured to the frame, the spiral springs being vertically arranged and supported by and within the frame, the cover resting upon the top coils of the vertically arranged springs with the free edge of the cover supported upon the springs so that the cover flexes with the springs in supporting and distributing a weight applied thereto.

4. A resilient seat as set forth in claim 3 wherein a layer of stuffing material is placed over the upper surface of said plate, said layer of stuffing material extending over the edges of the plate, and said covering material is placed over said layer of stuffing material, and secured to said frame, said seat covering material being out of contact with said plate.

ANTI-IONIE STORY. 

